Sidekick vs Treo vs iPhone

I was a Sidekick user for 4 years (Sidekick I, then Sidekick II). I recently decided to replace my Sidekick and first tried a Treo 750w then went to an iPhone. So here is my review of the trade-offs of each.

Sidekick:
The Sidekick has the best physical design. The keypad is wider than any other and has a 4th row with the number keys. Having physical keys makes typing a lot easier and allows for touch typing. You can feel if your thumb is between keys and then look down. As for having the number row, entering a hex code, like a wireless security key, is a breeze with the sidekick and a giant PITA with the Treo and iPhone where every 2 - 3 characters you have to switch keys.

The software interface in the sidekick is a close second to the iPhone and blows the Treo Windows Mobile system away. You have everything you need and each app owns the screen and is designed precisely for the Sidekick's screen. And it has everything you will need from email to web browser to calendar.

The sidekick's synchronization is superior to the iPhone's. But clearly inferior to the Treo which can sync with Exchange. With the sidekick you install a synchronization program on your PC and run it once or more a day and it synchronizes with Outlook (Outlook must be running). The data goes from Outlook to Intellisync to T-Mobile's server to the sidekick. The sidekick is never connected to the PC which is great.

So what's the downside of the sidekick? It's that this whole system just doesn't work a lot of the time. I would guess 75% of the time web browsing does not work. About 10% of the time IM does not work and it is always dropping the IM connection so others can never get you. The email and calendar synchronization usually works but there was one time where it was not working for 6 weeks straight.

And their tech support is awful. For sidekick specific support you usually have to get forwarded through 3 levels of support, with a 5 - 10 minute wait time at each level. And then many times they either drop the phone call or can't answer the question. And forget email questions - they answer them about 2 months later (this is not an exaggeration). Basically you are on your own.

The mail and calendar synchronization stopped working on mine and after investing an hour on the support lines with no answers, when the support call dropped (that's the problem with making a call on T-Mobile - the calls drop), I decided that it was time to move on.

So great hardware, good software on the phone, horrible support and back-end software. For a business user depending on synchronizing your calendar and contacts it can't be depended on.

Treo:
So the first place I went was Verizon. My wife and daughters have Verizon phones and are very happy with them and the ActiveSync capability in Windows Mobile to sync with my Exchange mail and contacts was compelling.

So lets start with Windows ActiveSync. This is what is used to synchronize your Treo with Exchange pushing mail and updates in both directions. This includes mail you send from the Treo being placed in your sent folder on Exchange. Oh, what a wonderful world.

Not so fast. You install everything following some very long instructions. And if everything works, great. But if it doesn't work you get error codes like 80072F0D. Gee, that's informative. It be just as useful to have an error of "something didn't work." (The Exchange group at Microsoft seems to have a motto of no error code is too obtuse.)

Reading the web about this specific error code half the people had a self-generated certificate and switched to a purchased one. The other half had a purchased certificate and switched to a self-generated one. I took this to mean that if one approach didn't work, try the other and maybe that one would go right.

I just switched to no SSL and got error code 85010014 for which there is no information. So after 8 hours of hitting my head bloody pounding it against a brick wall, I surrendered. Exchange's hiding of what the actual problem is beat me.

But during that time I used the Treo for phone calls, web browsing, and played with the messaging and calendar. So I was using it somewhat for a couple of days.

And my conclusion is it's too small. The keyboard is too narrow and does not have that all important 4th row of numbers. And the screen is small and Windows Mobile wastes screen real estate making the usable part even smaller. Moving around from app to app is also a challenge. The Windows desktop is great on a regular computer but it's a lousy UI for a 2"x2" screen.

It's web browsing is also slow compared to the iPhone. But it is a dream compared to the sidekick. Everything worked, web pages downloaded, the connection was always good. And calls to Verizon support were answered quickly and I never had a dropped call.

Also kudos to Verizon for their 30 day try it policy. I took the phone back after 5 days and they were very polite, no problems on returning it, and actually told me they get a lot of them back because people cannot get the phone to sync with Exchange. (Probably the best gauge of how difficult it is to connect a Treo to Exchange, Verizon provides no support for doing so. They would rather lose you as a customer than go through the expense of getting a phone connected).

Blackberry:
I did not bother with a blackberry because I figured if I can't get ActiveSync to work, might as well go with an iPhone.

iPhone:
Ok, I am no Apple fan. I use iTunes with my iPod and find it slow, clunk, and with a so-so UI. I've always used PCs and really like how Windows works. But it's the new thing and a number of friends were raving about the iPhone. So I tried it next.

So I download iTunes, connect up the iPhone, and get ready to go through a couple of hours of pain. The sidekick can't do this well. The Treo can't do it at all. All I want is after a couple of hours, I finally have it working.

So it pops up, asks me for my billing info, asks me what it wants synced, and then takes 10 minutes syncing everything. I actually spent 5 minutes verifying that everything worked. It's not supposed to be painless. This was absolutely amazing.

The iPhone uses a wireless connection if one is available. And you think - that's cool. But you don't realize what that really means. You click on a YouTube video and if you are using wireless, it starts playing. And the resolution is stunning. You can't get that if you use the cellular data network. Instant response is a gigantic difference over wait a minute. Absolutely gigantic.

All of the software is laid out well, is easy to get to, and is designed perfectly for the form factor of the iPhone. Apple knows how to make something so easy to use it just happens.

This is not to say it is perfect. The keypad is just part of the touchscreen that slides up as needed and is gone when not needed. It's a good trade-off because you get all the screen for the web, videos, etc. But it is a trade-off and a touch screen keyboard means you have to watch your typing. And no 4th row of numbers - they have the same stupid toggle which keyboard mode.

Email is via IMAP and calendar and contacts is synced with iTunes. No ActiveSync (not that that works anyways). Even worse, you have to connect the iPhone to the computer to sync it. The iPhone has the worst sync system of the three. And iTunes is slow and clunky. It works but it's slow and clunky.

Recommendation:
So which do I recommend? Well if you have a large enough IT department that they can put in the hours to get the Treo talking to Exchange, I would consider that. Because true synchronization between the Treo and Exchange is a really useful idea.

But if you don't have the IT resources to get it working. Or you do but the synchronization is not key, then get the iPhone. It's easily the best system aside from the synchronization issue. And the wireless speed for data makes it worlds better for web browsing, etc.

As to the sidekick, it's not dependable.

ps:
Why, why, why do the phones do the display **** when entering passwords? Especially for a wireless key? Do you know how most people get a wireless key, it's on a piece of paper passed to everyone new in the room. It's not a secret to others in the room. Show the password so you know you didn't mis-type on the itty-bitty keypad.

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Comments

[Offbeatmammal]

Nice review. If the Sidekick supported ActiveSync and all that goodness so I could use it with my work Exchange account I'd swap my current WinMo device without a second thought! My wife is probably going to upgrade at the weekend!

[Shawn Coleman]

In the interest of full disclosure, it is my first smartphone, my last phone was a razor,,and I am a huge apple fan (I went mac in January),but I absolutely love my phone. You have to have reasonable expectations of all these gizmos to not be dissapointed but I am writing this post outside of a library in very rural vermnont. . . Nuff said the UI is pretty slick especially If you use all of the finger pad options on your MacBook just about everything either translates or has an intuative equivalent, is it perfect? No, but it is awesome, my new favorite toy and has kept me relatively connected to the world outside of Weston, VT which Is no small feat, it also has one feature my razor couldn't manage . . . It reliably makes and receives phone calls! Highly recomended!

[Laurie Zeller]

Hey, this was a great post. I am wondering, though, if you spend much time in the mountains, particularly outside the I-70 corridor. Verizon seems to have a virtual monopoly on service outside of the major resort areas, and even then it's not so great. I have been presuming I couldn't go the the I-phone because of cingular's lack of coverage - have you heard something different, or does that not figure into your decision? Thanks!